I liked Anime before it was Anime
Monday, February 11th, 2008I love cartoons. Always have. I am in my thirties, and in the late 70’s cable became popular in my community. I live about three hours from Chicago, not close enough to pick up their TV stations over the air. In the late 70s and early 80s, we got WGN-TV 9 (Ind.), WTTW-TV 11 (PBS), and for a time WSNS-TV 44 (Ind.) and WFLD-TV 32 (Ind.) on our cable system.
These were the stations with cartoons in the mornings and afternoon. I must of developed an internal clock, because I always knew when to turn the TV on for these cartoons.
WGN had Rocky & Bullwinkle, Star Blazers and Bozo in the morning. In the afternoon I remember Superman (60’s Filmation version).
WFLD had Tom & Jerry, the Flintstones and Spider-Man (Ralph Bakshi’s 1960’s version).
WSNS had the Three Stooges’ cartoon show (1960’s), some other Marvel and non-Marvel superhero cartoons, and Speed Racer.
Star Blazers and Speed Racer always stayed with me. When I got my Netflix subscription , Star Blazers, Speed Racer and Spider-Man (1960’s) were among my first selections.
I had become very fond of these English dubbed Japanese produced series. I’ve done much reading on the subject, must thank television producer Fred Ladd for bring shows like Astro Boy, Gigantor, Kimba, and Speed Racer to American television.
